All About Clove - The First 18 Days

On 13 December 2017, Clove arrived in our lives.  She was about 10 weeks old.  She and her brother (who was set to go to another household) were the 2 survivors from a litter of 7 born to a mother dog who had been bred too many times at too frequent intervals and then neglected.  As we later learned, neither her brother nor her mother survived the next month.

24 Hours, 5 meals, 3 baths, 5 nit-combing sessions later ... 

Those little golden seeds are nits and lice.

Such a little thing, more parasite than puppy. The only good thing about the louse infestation on her was that there was no room left for fleas!  I saw only a couple of fleas on Clove, and those were in the rinse water of her baths.  Poor Clove also had intestinal worms. 

Clove playing with the weasel balls - s plush toy weasel attached to a ball that rolls eccentrically.  She loved that weasel to death.

Even though Clove had been neglected and was malnourished, she was friendly, inquisitive, and playful.

Falling asleep with her weasel ball.

Those first few days she spent playing, sleeping, eating, pooping, and peeing.  Funny, that's still mostly how she spends her time now.

Clove was so small that a cat harness adjusted to the smallest size fit her loosely.  She soon grew into it and then outgrew it, too.

I combed her for lice, which I had originally thought were mites, several times a day.  And we bathed her 5 times that first week.  The first time I combed her with the nit comb, I was horrified by the sheer volume of nits, lice, and dead skin that came off on the comb - easily 2 tablespoons worth.

Her second favorite toy - the sparkling wine cork. Perfect for her sharp little puppy teeth and too big for her to choke on.

Two weeks later, Clove is a new puppy.  She still has bald spots from the lice (and probably mites, too), especially on her tail and left rear foot and moth-eaten patches on her torso.  But the fur that remains is healthier looking and she has grown incredibly larger.  She went from 4 lbs to 8.6 lbs in 17days.  The cat harness had to be loosened all the way.

Growing every day.

"I am Clove."

Clove and Barnie are half-sisters from the same mother.  Barnie is 1.5 years older than Clove.  It was love at first sight for those 2.  But with Barnie being so much bigger and stronger, we thought it best to let them play for a while through the gate and rail.  We put up a run line for Clove's leash situated so that she could be next to Barnie or not, as she chose, but she couldn't go through the rail and fall off the 10 ft high veranda or escape down the stairs.  That worked beautifully for about 10 days.

Visiting time for Barnie and Clove.

Barnie and Clove chewing on each other.  You can see Clove's splotchy fur and bald tail.  Clove is defending her coconut husk toy. 

Barnie playfully stealing the coconut husk.

Big sister Barnie letting Clove nap with the husk.

The next weeks were spent with more bathing, deworming, treatments for lice/mites/fleas.  And more time with Barnie.  As I look at these photos from 8 months ago, I can hardly believe it's the same dog.  More Clove updates to come.